Uber protests snarl Paris traffic as London cabs gather

Amy Thomson, Cornelius Rahn and Daniele Lepido

London: Uber Technologies, the car-sharing service that's rankling cabbies across the US, is fighting its biggest protest yet from European drivers who say the smartphone application threatens their livelihoods.

Traffic snarled in parts of Madrid and Paris on Wednesday, with a total of more than 30,000 taxi and limo drivers from London to Berlin blocking tourist centres and shopping districts. They are asking regulators to apply tougher rules on San Francisco-based Uber, whose software allows customers to order a ride from drivers who don't need licences that can cost €200,000 ($289,000) apiece.

London taxi drivers alongside their parked cabs on The Mall during the protest. Photo: Bloomberg

The biggest city-centre protest was in London, where thousands of black cabs and private hire cars descended on the tourist hubs of Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square, blocking some of the city's busiest streets. Scooter and motorbike riders studying for the cab-driver exam joined in, honking their horns as the police tried to regulate traffic.

"We have to have a licence to own a cab, we have to have a driver's licence, a cab driver's licence," said Mark Haslam, a 58-year-old black-cab driver, who took part in the protest. "For some reason they seem to be outside the law."

Taxi drivers protest next to the Olympia Stadium in Berlin. Photo: Getty Images

About 1200 Parisian drivers blocked the Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports on Wednesday morning, preventing private car services from picking up passengers, said Nadine Annet, vice president at the FNAT taxi association in France. Cabbies also slowed down traffic the A1 highway that circles Paris, leading to a 200-kilometre jam, local TV reported. The vast majority of France's 55,000 professional taxis and Paris's 15,000 cabs were on strike Wednesday, Annet said.

Kader Djielouli, 44, a protester who's been driving taxis in Paris for 15 years, saying he's spending most of the day on strike. Mr Djielouli said he's lost 40 per cent of his revenue since 2009 because of services like Uber.

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Private car services "are taxis without being taxis," he said. "We are against them. There needs to be the same rules for all."

In Madrid, thousands of drivers marched to block the Paseo de la Castellana, one of the city's main central avenues, as police escorted the demonstration by cars, a helicopter and officers on foot. Protesters chanted insults targeted at Uber and chased taxis that weren't taking part in the rally.

In Berlin, more than 500 taxis lined up in columns of 20 in the plaza stretching out from the Olympic stadium. Berlin cabs also targeted airports and the upscale Kurfuerstendamm shopping district. At the Tegel airport, one of the three starting locations for the Berlin demonstration, taxi driver Kubilay Sarikaya said this morning he was sceptical about the protests. While he'd been working since 3am, he said he'll go along if his friends do.

"While we are demonstrating, the other guys are hauling people around," said Sarikaya, 33. "There have to be other ways. Ultimately I think folks know that they can always count on the good old cab to get them where they need to be."

In Milan, no taxi was to be seen after about 5000 drivers went on a strike that was set to last until 10pm.

In a response, Uber said it was opening its service in London to black-cab drivers, describing its 5 per cent commission as the lowest of all booking systems in the city. Uber has thus far offered luxury cars and cheaper rides in London, while excluding licensed black cabs. Later in the day, Uber's British unit said signups on Wednesday were 850 per cent higher than last Wednesday, declining to give the actual number.

Uber also said in a statement its teams across Europe will keep the cities moving Wednesday.

"While the taxi protests may seek to bring Europe to a standstill, we'll be on hand to get our riders from A to B."